Ah, the East Boston Ferry. I was planning to ride this in May, but uhhhh, I kinda missed it due to negligence on my part. Oh well! With the closure of the Sumner Tunnel, I figured it’s as good a time to ride it. So, let’s get into it.
So, the route is pretty short, going from Lewis Wharf in East Boston, to Long Wharf in downtown. The boat itself was fairly comfortable for what, I presume, is commuter-grade equipment. I’ve also heard you can stand outside, but since it was raining when I did this (or, rather, it just stopped), they didn’t allow anyone to board outside. Nevertheless, after taking some time to reverse, we were on our way and, soon enough, made it to downtown in about 10 minutes, and I was on my merry way to South Station to meet up with June.
The good: For a ferry, it’s pretty decent enough. I’m not sure if there’s restroom facilities, but for the short distance this route covers it’s not needed. Furthermore, it’s pretty useful as a supplement to the Blue Line between Aquarium and Maverick. Or, it would be….
The bad: …if the ferry was nearly as frequent. It takes 10 minutes to clear the distance, a decent amount of which is spent reversing the ferry. Consequentially, it’s also only half-hourly, as opposed to every 6-10 minutes on the Blue Line. But, I’ll give the ferry some forgiveness as it hasn’t had any incidents unlike the other modes on the T.
Nearby points of interest: Downtown and East Boston, duh!
Overall, while the ride itself is nice, the East Boston Ferry is kinda limited in usefulness and use cases are kinda niche, given the Blue Line serves the same spots AND is faster, AND it’s more frequent! But, I still think water-centric transit can be utilized if under the right circumstances. And, for a short-distance water taxi, the East Boston Ferry is alright enough.
Rating: 8/10
